Low concentrations of red tide seen offshore
Over the past week, the red tide organism Karenia brevis was detected in 51 samples collected from Florida’s Gulf Coast, and in northwest Florida, it was observed at background and very low concentrations in Franklin County.
Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were not observed. Satellite imagery from Nov. 4 continues to show a large offshore patch (>165 miles long) of elevated chlorophyll spanning Pasco to Collier counties, and a few isolated patches further north, off of the Big Bend region.
Confirmatory offshore sampling was not possible over the past week due to weather. We suspect red tide continues to be present offshore, however, we are seeing other algal species dominant in nearshore samples (mostly diatoms, occurring with and without red tide present) and it is possible that the chlorophyll signal represents a mixed assemblage, not just red tide.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.